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Our Changing World headlines with summaries.
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A pair of tyrants
16 Feb 2023This week we're travelling back in time 66 million years ago with producer William Ray, to a time when dinosaurs roamed. Join William as he meets two Tyrannosaurus rex fossils at the Auckland Museum…
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The sex life of spiders
9 Feb 2023They can hunt, they can fish, they build little nurseries for their babies. Oh and some of them also engage in a bit of sexual cannibalism. Claire Concannon goes on a nighttime stroll in Kirikiriroa…
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Bonus: Bug of the Year 2023 causing lab tension
9 Feb 2023With the Bug of the Year 2023 competition coming to the closing stages, it's not surprising that things are getting heated. In this breaking news story we learn how voting preferences have caused a…
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The secret life of sea sponges
2 Feb 2023What do marine biologists get up to? Some Evans Bay Intermediate school students are learning all about it at the Victoria University Coastal Ecology Lab. Claire Concannon tags along to listen in, and…
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Green data storage, green walls
26 Jan 2023Claire Concannon investigates how luminescence and specialised materials could be key to our growing data storage needs, and visits a test site for native vertical gardens that could cloak the walls…
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Summer science: Two stories from the ocean
19 Jan 2023In the final instalment of our summer science series, we bring you two stories from the ocean. First we have a story on marine noise pollution from Victoria University of Wellington Centre for Science…
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Summer science: Rabbits and other pests
We continue our summer science series with an episode from RNZ's The Aotearoa History Show. In the first episode of season two, the show burrows into the story of rabbits and other pests introduced to…
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Summer science: The hunt for New Zealand's tenth meteorite
5 Jan 2023As part of our summer science series we bring you an episode of The Otago Chronicles podcast, hosted by Max Balloch. In this episode, Max talks to Associate Professor James Scott from the University…
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Summer science: Two stories about genetics
22 Dec 2022Two stories about genetics produced by students at the University of Otago's Department of Science Communication. Amanda Konyn investigates whether gene editing has a role in future pest control…
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An eye in the sky to detect methane emissions
15 Dec 2022MethaneSAT is the first New Zealand government funded space mission. A joint project between the United States' Environmental Defense Fund and New Zealand, the project will see a methane sensing…
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Conservation successes in the Cook Islands
The kākerōri or Rarotongan flycatcher is a South Pacific conservation success story. Once reduced to just 29 birds, it has been rescued from the brink of extinction by a rat control programme managed…
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Planning for Aotearoa's genomic medicine future
If the future of healthcare is personalised genomics, how can we ensure that it is used to lessen inequities, rather than strengthen them? This week, Our Changing World speaks to two of the co-leaders…
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Genome sequencing and the pandemic
Genome sequencing has become a household term during this pandemic. This week, we explore how it became an important tool in the fight against Covid-19.
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Sunfish secrets
17 Nov 2022Sunfish are the world's largest bony fish species – and yet scientists know little about their lives. This week, Our Changing World meets a sunfish researcher unravelling mola mysteries and dives into…
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Sunshine science: the power and peril of the sun’s rays
10 Nov 2022Summer is on its way, and this week we're exploring both the power and the peril of the sun. First, we visit the Ultrafast Laser Lab to learn about efforts to create better solar panels. Then, we hear…
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What feathers can tell us about the past lives of seabirds
3 Nov 2022Behind the scenes at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, a "menagerie" of specimens is a treasure trove for curator Dr Matt Rayner, who is researching how the Hauraki Gulf's seabirds are faring using…
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Why has this river of Antarctic ice stalled?
27 Oct 2022How do you drill through 600m of thick Antarctic ice? Using hot water, of course. In this episode from the 2020 series Voices from Antarctica, Alison Ballance joins researchers hoping to solve the…
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Space sounds and jungle noises The otherworldly song of Weddell
20 Oct 2022Weddell seals have returned to breed near Scott Base in Antarctica after a decades-long absence. On land, they're blubbery lumps. But underwater, they're graceful dancers and ethereal singers. A team…
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Deep dives and epic journeys: Return of the emperor penguins
13 Oct 2022A team of NIWA scientists eagerly awaits the return of 19 emperor penguins carrying high-tech data loggers and video cameras. What will the data captured reveal about the penguins' secret lives at…
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Emperor penguin secrets
6 Oct 2022Revisit the frozen continent with us in this mini rerun of the Voices from Antarctica series. This week, Alison visits Cape Crozier to meet a colony of emperor penguins and the team of scientists…
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The prickly prize of ongaonga
29 Sep 2022It's spectacularly spiky and delivers a painful or even deadly sting. Why are a team of conservationists growing and planting up Orokonui Ecosanctuary near Dunedin with more and more native tree…
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A send-off for SOFIA, the flying observatory
22 Sep 2022We're saying farewell to the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (aka SOFIA) this month. The mission, which was partially based in Christchurch, wraps up after a decade of observing…
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Future forest industry
15 Sep 2022In a future that is free of fossil fuels, where will we source all the products that we get from the petroleum industry? Scientists at the forest research institute Scion think that trees might…
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Fascinating fungi and pesky pathogens
In a room in the Manaaki Whenua building in Auckland are rows and rows of shelves, with cardboard boxes containing an array of weird and wonderful dried fungi. Claire Concannon visits to learn how and…
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Top News stories
- NZ's new AI strategy is long on 'economic opportunity' but short on managing ethical and social risk
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- Sinner seeks redemption, Alcaraz a three-peat in Wimbledon final showdown
- 'My face was like sandpaper' - a 70-year-old man converted to skincare
- Commercial fishing school refunds $1m for subsidy errors over four years
